For those of you who don't know, Netflix is the original DVD Rental by mail service. Along with their DVD Rental by mail service, they also offer the ability to stream movies and watch them on demand over your internet connection.

Recently, they started offering service in Canada. The difference between the Canadian service and the US service is that in Canada, the service is for streaming movies only. So for $7.99 a month, you can stream as many movies/TV shows as you would like (depending on bandwidth limits from your ISP).

Since they had a 1 month free trial I decided to give it a whirl. I really like watching movies, and I'm always looking for ways to make it more enjoyable, and cheaper, to watch a lot of movies. Netflix makes the whole process quite easy.

The best thing about Netflix is that they have the ability to stream movies straight to your TV using your Nintendo Wii (which I used) or your PS3, or (in the future) XBox 360. I was quite impressed by the quality of the video. I only have a standard definition tv, but I think it looked pretty good. I also checked out some of the High Def stuff on my computer, and was very impressed with the quality.

Another thing that makes it great is the price. For less than the price of 2 movies rentals from many other sources, you can watch as many movies as your bandwidth will allow for. On demand rentals cost $5 from Rogers, sometimes more, and even the DVD rental stores charge almost the same, plus you have the trouble of actually bringing it back to the store.

I think the only thing that was disappointing was the selection. They don't have a lot of the newest blockbusters, and they don't have a lot of the big blockbuster movies from years past. However, they still have a lot of really good movies. There's a lot of independent movies, as well as a lot of less popular but really amazing films. Personally, I don't think I'll grow tired of the list of movies any time in the near future. And who could argue with a selection that includes the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Miniseries.

Overall the service is great. I haven't had any problems getting movies to play. I also find the interface on both the computer and the Wii to be really intuitive and easy to use. The only problem was that it took an extra while for my Wii disc to get shipped because they ran out, probably due to so many new customers since their debut in Canada. The Wii integration is very seamless, and makes it dead simple to actually watch stuff on your TV without going through the hassle of hooking up a computer to your TV, or buying yet another box that goes under your TV

I really think that this is where the future of TV is going. No more cable subscriptions. Just pay for an internet connection, and get all your content for super cheap downloaded streaming over your internet connection. No need to even have a large hard drive or keep any of it with you, because you can just stream it again, and you don't have to worry about backing up your stuff.